Mobile device mode enablement responsive to a proximity criterion

ABSTRACT

A system ( 10 ) and method ( 30 ) comprises a detector that is configured to enable a mode of a first device ( 14 ) and/or to enable a mode of a second device ( 15 ) responsive to a detection that a proximity criterion is satisfied between the first device and an entity (Entity  1 ) and responsive to at least one of a position, velocity and a Time-of-Day and where the second device is not the entity and is not associated with the entity, and where the entity is not involved in providing a communications service to the first and/or second device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a divisional of application Ser. No.15/800,885, filed Nov. 1, 2017, which is itself a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 15/251,882, filed Aug. 30, 2016, which is itself acontinuation of application Ser. No. 12/264,711, filed Nov. 4, 2008,entitled “Mobile Device Mode Enablement Responsive to a ProximityCriterion”, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, thedisclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference as ifset forth fully herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to systems, devices and/or methods that may beused to provide an adaptive enablement of one or more communicationsmodes based upon having satisfied a proximity criterion. The one or morecommunications modes may be one or more wireless and/or non-wirelesscommunications modes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Adaptivity and mobility aspects of wireless communications are becomingmore important in people's lives. People are relying more and more onmobile wireless devices to perform an ever-increasing suite of functionssuch as, for example, navigation, e-mail, web surfing, streaming video,etc. However, there is a rigidity aspect that is associated withwireless mobile devices in that a wireless mobile device is typicallyconfigured to be capable of performing a predetermined number offunctions independent of its location, Time-of-Day (ToD), velocity,acceleration, temperature, sensing of a signal, etc. It would, forexample, be desirable to have a mobile wireless device act as a “wallet”(over and above other functions) only when it is time to pay for an itemand not act as a wallet when there is no need to do so.

The present invention, addresses these limitations (i.e., the rigidity)of current wireless mobile devices. Accordingly, embodiments of thepresent invention provide systems, devices and/or methods that may beused to enable adaptively one or more modes/functions of a device basedupon having satisfied by the device (or another device) a proximitycondition/criterion.

As used herein, the term “end-user device,” “wireless mobile device,”“mobile wireless device” or simply “device” includes any electronicdevice that may be used to transmit/receive information wirelesslyand/or non-wirelessly such as, for example, a Digital Subscriber Line(DSL) modem/transceiver; a cable modem/transceiver; a cellular and/orsatellite radiotelephone with or without a multi-line display; PersonalCommunications System (PCS) terminals that may combine a radiotelephonewith data processing, facsimile and/or data communications capabilities;Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that can include a radio frequencytransceiver and/or a pager, Internet/Intranet access, Web browser,organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;laptop and/or palmtop computers or other appliances, which may (or maynot) include a radio frequency transceiver.

An end-user device also may be referred to herein as a radiotelephone,radioterminal, mobile terminal, user device, wireless device, deviceand/or terminal; etc. As used herein, the term end-user device and/orany of its synonyms also include(s) any other radiatingdevice/equipment/source that may have time-varying or fixed geographiccoordinates and/or may be portable, transportable, installed in avehicle (aeronautical, maritime, or land-based) and/or situated and/orconfigured to operate locally and/or in a distributed fashion over oneor more terrestrial and/or extra-terrestrial location(s).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a communication system that detects a proximity criterionin accordance with the claimed embodiments;

FIG. 2 depicts another communication system that detects a proximitycriterion in accordance with the claimed embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of detecting proximitycriterion and enabling functions or modes on devices in accordance withthe claimed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to specific embodiments and/or the accompanying drawing(s), inwhich embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected,” “coupled” and/or “responsive” to another element, it can bedirectly connected, coupled and/or responsive to the other element orintervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected,” “coupled”and/or “responsive” as used herein may include wirelessly connected,coupled and/or responsive. The terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended tobe limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,”“an” and/or “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well,unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood thatthe terms “includes,” “comprises,” “including” and/or “comprising,” whenused in this specification, specify the presence of stated features,integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do notpreclude the presence and/or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and thepresent disclosure, and will not be interpreted in an idealized oroverly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Furthermore, it will be understood that although terms such as, forexample, first and second may be used herein to describe variouselements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. Theseterms are only used to distinguish one element from another element.Thus, a first element below could be termed a second element, andsimilarly, a second element may be termed a first element withoutdeparting from the teachings of the present invention. As used herein,the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more ofthe associated listed items. The symbol “/” is also used as a shorthandnotation for “and/or.”

A mobile device such as, for example, a wireless communications device(e.g., a wireless terminal, a wireless/mobile phone, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), a smart phone, a multi-media device including GlobalPositioning System (GPS) capability, etc.) and/or one or more systemsthat is/are providing service to the mobile device and/or to a deviceother than the mobile device, may be configured to enable one or moremodes/functions of the mobile device and/or of the device other than themobile device, responsive to a proximity criterion having beensatisfied.

In some embodiments, determining whether the proximity criterion issatisfied comprises determining by the mobile device and/or by the oneor more systems of a location associated with the mobile device. Inother embodiments, determining whether the proximity criterion issatisfied comprises determining by the device other than the mobiledevice and/or by the one or more systems of a location that isassociated with the device other than the mobile device. The determiningby the mobile device, by the device other than the mobile device and/orby the one or more systems may, in some embodiments, comprise receptionand/or processing of GPS signals in order to determine a Time-of-Day(ToD), Time-of-Month (ToM), Time-of-Year (ToY), velocity, accelerationand/or position (in three-dimensional space). In other embodiments, thedetermining may be based upon the mobile device and/or the device otherthan the mobile device detecting a signal that is being radiated by adevice that is attached to and/or is installed in/on an entity (i.e., adevice that is associated with the entity). In still furtherembodiments, the device other than the mobile device may send a messageto the mobile device requesting enablement of one or moremodes/functions of the mobile device and/or of the device other than themobile device and, responsive to an affirmative response by the mobiledevice, the mobile device and/or the device other than the mobile devicemay enable the one or more modes/functions of the mobile device and/orof the device other than the mobile device.

The entity may, for example, be a person, an animal, a vehicle(ground-based, maritime and/or aeronautical), a building (residential,commercial and/or office), a product that is for sale, a store thatsells one or more products, a check-out counter in a store, a shoppingcart that may be used by a customer to carry one or more productsselected by the customer for purchase, one or more locations in timeand/or space, a geographic area and/or a multi-dimensional region intime and/or space.

The signal that is being radiated by the device that is attached toand/or is installed in the entity may include an element that may be apriori known by the mobile device and/or by the device other than themobile device. As such, according to some embodiments, the mobile deviceand/or the device other than the mobile device may, when proximate tothe entity, receive the signal that is being radiated by the device thatis attached to and/or is installed in the entity, detect the elementthat may be a priori known by the mobile device and/or by the deviceother than the mobile device and thus determine that the mobile deviceand/or the device other than the mobile device is proximate to theentity.

It will be understood that the signal that is being radiated by thedevice that is attached to and/or is installed in the entity may beradiated at a relatively low power level so that it may be detected bythe mobile device and/or by the device other than the mobile device onlyover a relatively small distance between, for example, the mobile deviceand the device that is attached to and/or is installed in the entity(e.g., over a distance that is, for example, less than 100 meters, insome embodiments or less than 10 meters, in other embodiments). It willalso be understood that the element that may be a priori known by themobile device and/or by the device other than the mobile device maycomprise an identity associated with the entity. In some embodiments,the identity may comprise a number, a word/name, a location, aTime-of-Day (ToD), a unique code, a region of space and/or time, etc.

According to some embodiments, the mobile device and/or the device otherthan the mobile device may be configured so that a user of the mobiledevice and/or a user of the device other than the mobile device, aservice provider providing service to the mobile device and/or providingservice to the device other than the mobile device and/or a manufacturerof the mobile device and/or the device other than the mobile device mayprogram the mobile device and/or the device other than the mobile deviceto recognize the element and/or the identity associated with the entity.

A number of examples/applications of the concepts disclosed above willnow be described to further illustrate the scope and spirit of thepresent invention to those skilled in the art.

Example/Application No. 1

A motor vehicle, such as, for example, a car, may be configured with alow-power radiator that radiates a signal that includes an identity ofthe motor vehicle, a velocity of the motor vehicle, an acceleration ofthe motor vehicle, a position of the motor vehicle, a Time-of-Day (ToD),a Time-of-Month (ToM), a Time-of-Year (ToY) and/or an indication of acontent of the motor vehicle. Now imagine a person who is associatedwith the motor vehicle (e.g., an owner/driver of the motor vehicle) isapproaching the motor vehicle. Let us assume that the person who isapproaching the motor vehicle and is associated with the motor vehiclecarries a wireless communications device. The wireless communicationsdevice may be configured to sense the signal that is being radiated bythe low-power radiator, detect the identity of the motor vehicle andcompare the detected identity with one or more a priori identities thatare stored in the wireless communications device. If a match is found,the communications device may be configured to selectively enable,responsive to the match, for example, a “pay toll” function.Accordingly, as the motor vehicle approaches an access point that isconfigured to radiate a signal associated with toll collection, thecommunications device, responsive to having detected the signalassociated with toll collection, may be configured to transmitinformation that may be used by the access point and/or by an associatedtoll collection system that may be connected to the access point todebit an account that is associated with a user and/or owner of thecommunications device. In further embodiments of the present invention,if the match is found, the communications device may be configured toselectively enable, responsive to the match and responsive to a velocityof the motor vehicle, an acceleration of the motor vehicle, a positionof the motor vehicle, a Time-of-Day (ToD), a Time-of-Month (ToM), aTime-of-Year (ToY) and/or a content of the motor vehicle, for example,the “pay toll” function. It will be understood that the velocity of themotor vehicle, the acceleration of the motor vehicle, the position ofthe motor vehicle, the ToD, the ToM and/or the ToY may be provided bythe communications device (based on GPS signal processing, and/or basedon any other means, that may be performed/implemented by thecommunications device and/or by a network that may be providing serviceto the communications device) and/or by the motor vehicle.

The wireless communications device may be configured to keep the paytoll function enabled for as long as the wireless communications deviceis able to sense the signal that is being radiated by the low-powerradiator (i.e., the signal that includes an identity of the motorvehicle) and to selectively disable the pay toll function a short timeafter the wireless communications device is no longer able to sense thesignal that is being radiated by the low-power radiator. In furtherembodiments, the wireless communications device may be configured tokeep the pay toll function enabled as long as the wirelesscommunications device is able to sense the signal that is being radiatedby the low-power radiator and a specific value (or values) associatedwith at least one of a velocity of the motor vehicle, an acceleration ofthe motor vehicle, a position of the motor vehicle, a ToD, a ToM, a ToYand a content of the motor vehicle is/are being met/satisfied.

In accordance with some embodiments, even though the wirelesscommunications device does not find a match but is able to sense thesignal that is being radiated by the low-power radiator, the wirelesscommunications device may be configured to provide a notification (e.g.,a sound, a vibration, a light and/or an alpha-numeric display, etc.).Responsive to the notification, a user of the wireless communicationsdevice may instruct (for example, manually or via voice command) thewireless communications device to enable the pay toll function.

In further embodiments, a second wireless communications device thatbelongs to and/or is being used by a second person, senses a signal and,responsive to having sensed the signal (whether a match is found or not)sends a request selectively to a first wireless communications device.Responsive to the request, the first wireless communications devicesends an acknowledgement and/or an authorization to the second wirelesscommunications device. Responsive to the acknowledgement and/orauthorization the second wireless communications device selectivelyenables a mode which, according to some embodiments, is the pay tollfunction. It will be understood that the first and second wirelesscommunications devices may, according to some embodiments, bepredetermined to function as described above. That is, the firstwireless communications device acting as a “master” and the secondwireless communications device acting as a “slave” in that the secondwireless communications device is configured to enable a mode/functionthereof responsive to a detection/match and responsive to receiving anauthorization from the first wireless communications device. If themode/function comprises paying for a transaction, an amount of moneyassociated with the paying may be deducted/withdrawn from an accountassociated with an owner/user of the first wireless communicationsdevice.

Thus, according to some embodiments, the first wireless communicationsdevice functions independently and/or autonomously whereas the secondwireless communications device functions dependently on the firstwireless communications device, at least as far as at least one of itsmodes/functions is concerned. The master-slave relationship between thefirst and second wireless communications devices may, according to someembodiments, be predetermined. In other embodiments, the master-slaverelationship may not be predetermined and may be negotiated and/orestablished, as a need for such a relationship arises, by exchanginginformation between the first and second wireless communicationsdevices. It will be understood that, in some embodiments, at least oneof the first and second wireless communications devices may not be awireless communications device.

Example/Application No. 2

A wireless communications device may be configured to estimate alocation associated therewith and may also be configured to estimate avalue of at least one other parameter that may be associated with thewireless communications device, an environment thereof and/or an entity(living or otherwise) that is associated with and/or is proximate to thewireless communications device. The “at least one other parameter” may,for example, be a velocity, acceleration, ToD, ToM, ToY, humidity,temperature, height, level of brightness, level of darkness, a bloodpressure, a heart rate, a blood content, a physiological state, apsychological state, etc. As those skilled in the art will appreciate,the wireless communications device may be configured to estimate itslocation and the value of the “at least one other parameter” by, forexample, processing GPS signals and/or by using other means and/orsensors that may, according to some embodiments, be device-based and/ornetwork assisted/based means and/or sensors.

According to some embodiments, the wireless communications device may beconfigured to make a comparison between an estimate of its location andone or more other locations, that may be one or more other predeterminedand/or pre-stored locations, and the wireless communications device maybe configured to selectively enable a first communications mode/functionresponsive to an outcome of the comparison and/or to selectively disablea second communications mode/function responsive to the outcome of thecomparison. In other embodiments, the wireless communications device maybe configured to selectively enable the first communicationsmode/function responsive to the outcome of the comparison and/orresponsive to a value of another parameter, such as, for example, avalue associated with the “at least one other parameter” list and/orselectively disable the second communications mode/function responsiveto the outcome of the comparison and/or responsive to a value of anotherparameter, such as, for example, a value associated with the “at leastone other parameter” list.

For example, in some embodiments, if a comparison between an estimate oflocation of the wireless communications device and the one or morelocations that are predetermined and/or pre-stored reveals a distancetherebetween that is less than or equal to a threshold, the wirelesscommunications device may be configured to selectively and/orpreferentially enable a first communications mode, that may be onecommunications mode of a plurality of communications modes, that uses,for example, a first air interface protocol and a first set offrequencies to communicate information wirelessly (wherein the first setof frequencies may be a predetermined first set of frequencies), whilerefraining from using (and/or using only infrequently and/or as a lastresort depending on an emergency, need and/or a priority) a secondcommunications mode, of the plurality of communications modes,comprising a second set of frequencies and/or a second air interfaceprotocol. In some embodiments, refraining from using (and/or using onlyinfrequently and/or as a last resort depending on an emergency, needand/or a priority) a second communications mode comprises selectivelyand/or preferentially disabling the second communications mode thatuses, for example, the second air interface protocol and/or the secondset of frequencies. It will be understood that, according to someembodiments, the first and/or second air interface protocols may bepredetermined and that the first and/or second set of frequencies mayalso be predetermined. In further embodiments, at least one of the firstair interface protocol, the second air interface protocol, the first setof frequencies and the second set of frequencies may not bepredetermined and may be determined as required responsive to receivinga message, sensing/detecting at least a portion of an electro-magnetspectrum and/or via other means such as, for example, a userchoice/preference/command.

In some embodiments, the first communications mode may comprise an airinterface protocol, such as, for example, an Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplexed and/or an Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess (OFDM/OFDMA) protocol, a WiFi- and/or WiMAX-based air interfaceprotocol that may be based upon Time Division Duplex (TDD) operationwherein a common set of frequencies are used bi-directionally (atdifferent times) to provide uplink and downlink communications, and thefirst and/or second set of frequencies may comprise, for example, anun-licensed use and/or a licensed use set of frequencies.

In further embodiments, the wireless communications device may furtherbe configured to selectively enable (or to prefer) a firstcommunications mode and/or to selectively refrain from using (or avoidfrom using unless a level of priority and/or other reason is provided) asecond communications mode, responsive to the comparison of positionthat was discussed earlier and/or responsive to a value of aquantity/parameter, such as, for example, a value associated with the“at least one other parameter” and/or responsive to an event (man-causedor natural). The first communications mode may comprise a first airinterface protocol and a first set of frequencies fortransmission/reception of information and the second communications modemay comprise a second air interface protocol, that may be different fromthe first air interface protocol, and/or a second set of frequencies fortransmission and/or reception of information that may be different (orat least partially different) from the first set of frequencies.

The wireless communications device may be configured to repeatedly makea decision based on the comparison of position that was discussedearlier, based on the value of a quantity/parameter, such as, forexample, a value associated with the “at least one other parameter”and/or based on the event (man-caused and/or natural), to maintain thefirst communications mode enabled and/or to maintain the secondcommunications mode disabled for as long as the comparison of position,the value of the quantity/parameter and/or the event (man-caused and/ornatural) continues to satisfy a threshold criterion and to disable thefirst communications mode and/or enable the second communications modeafter the wireless communications device determines that the comparisonof position, the value of the quantity/parameter and/or the event nolonger satisfies the threshold criterion.

In further embodiments, responsive to the comparison of position, thevalue of the quantity/parameter and/or the event satisfying thethreshold criterion, the wireless communications device may beconfigured to send information (automatically or upon user command)selectively to one or more other devices that, according to someembodiments, may be predetermined other devices. In still otherembodiments, responsive to the comparison of position, the value of thequantity/parameter and/or the event satisfying the threshold criterion,the wireless communications device may be configured to receiveinformation (automatically or upon user command) selectively from one ormore other devices that, according to some embodiments, may bepredetermined other devices.

Example/Application No. 3

A shopping cart, for example, of the type used in a grocery and/orsuper-market store, may be configured to sense/detect one or more itemsthat are placed in the shopping cart. As used herein, the term“configured to sense/detect” may, in some embodiments, comprisesensing/detecting, for example, a weight, a manufacturer, an expirationdate, a price and/or a nutritional value, etc. associated with the oneor more items, wherein the sensing/detecting may be performed based uponany technology, such as, for example, a Radio Frequency (RF) taggingtechnology, a bar-code technology, an image recognition technologyand/or any other technology.

Each shopping cart may include an identity (e.g., a number). Mr. Jones(a customer), who chooses a shopping cart having as identity a numbersuch as, for example, “8787,” may insert the number 8787 into a wirelesscommunications device that Mr. Jones is carrying/using. Upon insertingthe number 8787 into the wireless communications device, the wirelesscommunications device may be configured to selectively establish acommunications link, that may, in some embodiments, be a short-rangecommunications link, with the shopping cart having identity 8787. Fromthat time on, as the shopping cart senses/detects the one or more itemsthat are placed in the shopping cart, information associated with thesensing/detecting of the one or more items, including price informationassociated with the one or more items, is transferred to Mr. Jones'wireless communications device via the communications link that isselectively established between Mr. Jones' wireless communicationsdevice and shopping cart 8787.

In the event that Mr. Jones decides to put back on a shelf an item thathas been placed in shopping cart 8787, that item is sensed/detected bythe shopping cart as having been withdrawn/deleted from the shoppingcart and at least some information associated therewith iswithdrawn/deleted, or at least changed, from Mr. Jones' wirelesscommunications device via one or more commands/messages sent to thewireless communications device by the shopping cart, via thecommunications link.

When Mr. Jones has finished shopping, Mr. Jones can examine the wirelesscommunications device and may instruct the wireless communicationsdevice to perform a transaction, such as, for example, to pay for theone or more items that Mr. Jones has placed in shopping cart 8787. Insome embodiments, the shopping cart including the one or more items andthe wireless communications device may need to be proximate to aspecific location within the grocery and/or super market store (e.g.,proximate to a “check-out” counter/location) before the wirelesscommunications device and/or shopping cart (individually and/or jointlyin communication therebetween) may enable a “pay” function by detectinga (short-range) signal that may be transmitted by/from the specificlocation.

Other Embodiments

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate further embodiments of the present invention.Additional embodiments may comprise systems and/or methods. For example,in one embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 1, a method in a system 10 isprovided comprising: detecting that a proximity criterion is satisfiedbetween a first device 14, such as a mobile subscriber device, andEntity 1; and enabling a mode of the first device and/or a mode of asecond device 15 responsive to the detecting; where, according to someembodiments, the second device 15 is not the Entity 1 and is notassociated with the Entity 1 and wherein the Entity 1 is not involved inproviding a communications service to the first and/or second device. Inone particular embodiment, a mobile subscriber device 14 linked to acommunications system 18 via base station 12 can enable a function whenthe device 14 comes within a proximity of Entity 1. The function enabledcan be any number of functions at the mobile subscriber device 14 oreven at the mobile subscriber device 15. The mobile subscriber device 15can also be linked to the communications system 18 via a base station13. The function enabled can be a financial transaction, thetransmission of communications, such as data, and/or some other functionthat may provision the mobile subscriber device 14 and/or the mobilesubscriber device 15 with additional functionality not previouslyavailable/activated at the respective devices.

In one embodiment, the detection by mobile subscriber device 14 of aproximity criterion relative to Entity 1 can enable the mobilesubscriber device 14 to authorize and complete a financial transactionsuch as the payment of a toll and/or of an item at a check out line. Thesame detection by mobile subscriber device 14 of the proximity criterionrelative to Entity 1 can also or alternatively enable the mobilesubscriber device 15 to authorize and complete a financial transactionsuch as the payment of a toll and/or a payment for an item at a checkout line. The enablement of the mobile subscriber device 15 may also becontingent on the mobile subscriber device 15 having satisfied aproximity criterion relative to a second entity, such as Entity 2. Thus,the proximity criterion can include various requirements depending onthe particular application. The requirements may include at least one ofhaving the device 14 being within a predetermined distance of Entity 1,the device 14 receiving a predetermined signal strength from Entity 1,being at such predetermined distance for a predetermined time intervaland receiving a predetermined signal strength during the predeterminedtime interval. The requirements can also include having device 15 beingwithin a predetermined distance and/or predetermined signal strength ofEntity 2, and/or being within such predetermined distance and/or signalstrength during a predetermined time interval. It will be understoodthat at least one of devices 16 and 17, shown in FIG. 1 as beingattached to Entity 1 and Entity 2, respectively, may, according to someembodiments, comprise a wireless transmitter and/or receiver.

According to some embodiments, the detecting may be performed by thefirst device (i.e., radioterminal 14), by the second device (i.e.,radioterminal 15), by a device that is associated with an entity (i.e.,device 16 and/or device 17) and/or by a system that is associated withthe first and/or second devices (i.e., system 18, base station 12 and/orbase station 13). Also, in some embodiments, the enabling may beperformed by the first device, by the second device, by a device that isassociated with the entity and/or by a system that is associated withthe first and/or second devices.

In some embodiments, the first device comprises a wirelesscommunications device, the second device comprises a wirelesscommunications device and/or the system that is associated with thefirst and/or second devices comprises a wireless communications systemthat is configured to provide a communications service to the firstand/or second devices.

In further embodiments, detecting comprises: using position informationassociated with the first device; using position information associatedwith the second device; detecting a signal (and/or a signal strengthmeasurement such as RSSI) that is being radiated by the first device;detecting a signal (and/or a signal strength) that is being radiated bythe second device; and/or detecting a signal (and/or a signal strength)that is being radiated by a device that is associated with the entity,wherein using position information may, according to some embodiments,comprise: evaluating a distance between the position information and oneor more position values; and determining whether the distance is lessthan or equal to a threshold. In some embodiments, the one or moreposition values is/are predetermined.

In further embodiments, responsive to the enabling, the method comprisesperforming a function; wherein the function, according to someembodiments, comprises a financial transaction, receiving data and/ortransmitting data. In some embodiments, receiving data comprisesreceiving data selectively from a first unit and wherein transmittingdata comprises transmitting data selectively to a second unit. In someembodiments, the first and second units are the same unit, whereas inother embodiments the first and second units are different units. Infurther embodiments, the first and/or second units may be predeterminedunits and the first unit may comprise a wireless communications deviceand/or the second unit may comprise a wireless communications device. Inyet further embodiments, the first unit may be associated with anInternet Protocol (IP) address and/or the second unit may be associatedwith an IP address.

Referring to FIG. 2, the first device 14 can traverse a path 23 withinan overall coverage area 20 and the second device 15 can traverse a path25 within the overall coverage area 20. The overall coverage area 20 caninclude areas 22 and 24 that can be associated with respective entities.The entry of the first device 14 within area 22 can selectively enable amode and/or a function at device 14 and can optionally enable a modeand/or a function at device 15 based, according to some embodiments, ona proximity criterion to area 24. For example, if device 14 owned and/oroperated by a user is at a first store within area 22 and the device 15owned/operated by, for example, the user's spouse is at a second storewithin area 24, then the user's spouse at device 15 can complete apurchase within area 24 based on the user's presence with device 14within area 22. Similarly, if the two users at devices 14 and 15 atrespective areas 22 and 24 want to sample music, games and/or even playa game between each other, their respective device can be provisionedfor such sampling as long as they stay within the proximity criteria setfor each of the respective devices. Once one or the other device goesbeyond the respective proximity criterion, the mode and/or functionenabling the sampling will be disabled at one or both devices.

In some embodiments according to the present invention, receiving datacomprises receiving a position, a request and/or an acknowledgement andwherein transmitting data comprises transmitting a position, anauthorization and/or an acknowledgement.

In further embodiments according to the present invention, the financialtransaction comprises providing payment associated with a toll and/orproviding payment associated with a purchase of one or more items.

In accordance with additional embodiments of the present invention,receiving data comprises receiving data once or repeatedly andtransmitting data comprises transmitting data once or repeatedly.

It will be understood that relative to any one of the plurality ofmethods described above, the term “entity” may comprise a person, ananimal, a building, a motor vehicle, a shopping cart, a product, acheck-out counter, a geographic position, a geographic area and/or oneor more locations in time and/or space.

In a further embodiment according to the present invention, a system isprovided comprising: a detector that is configured to enable a mode of afirst device and/or to enable a mode of a second device responsive to adetection that a proximity criterion is satisfied between the firstdevice and an entity; wherein, according to some embodiments, the seconddevice is not the entity and is not associated with the entity, andwherein, according to further embodiments, the entity is not involved inproviding a communications service to the first and/or second device. Insome embodiments, the detector is included in, and the detection isperformed by, the first device, the second device, a device that isassociated with the entity and/or a system that is associated with thefirst and/or second devices. Similarly, according to some embodiments,the detector is included in, and the mode is enabled by, the firstdevice, the second device, a device that is associated with the entityand/or a system that is associated with the first and/or second devices.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flow chart illustrating a method 30 in accordancewith an embodiment herein includes detecting that a proximity criterionis satisfied between a first device and an entity at 32. Note, thatalthough the steps described are in a certain order in this embodiment,embodiments contemplated within the scope of the claims are notnecessarily limited to a particular order or necessarily include everystep described in method 30 and may further include additional steps asmay be obvious to one of ordinarily skilled in the art. Method 30 canfurther include enabling a mode of the first device and/or a mode of asecond device responsive to detecting satisfaction of the proximitycriterion and while the proximity criterion is satisfied at 34, wherethe first device and the second device form a part of a communicationsystem providing communications service to the first device and thesecond device. The second device can be independent of the entity andthe entity can be independent of the communications service provided tothe first and second device at shown at 36. The method at 38 can enablea mode of the first device and a mode of the second device responsive todetecting that the proximity criterion is satisfied between the firstdevice and the entity. The first device and the second device can bemobile subscriber devices (i.e., radioterminals) and the entity can be aproximity beacon enabling a financial transaction between the firstdevice or the second device and a vendor in communication with the firstdevice or the second device at an access point maintained by the vendoror on behalf of the vendor. The access point can be a toll both, a pointof purchase counter, or a check out counter and the first device and thesecond device can be cellular phones authorized selectively by its userand by satisfying the proximity criterion to proceed with a financialtransaction associated with the vendor at the access point. Aspreviously noted, although cellular phones are described, othercommunication devices are certainly within contemplation of the scope ofthe claims. The step of detecting can be done in any number of variousways. Detecting can include using position information associated withthe first device relative to the entity or using position information ofthe second device relative to the entity or detecting a signal beingradiated by the entity or detecting a signal being radiating by thefirst device and reflected by the entity or detecting a signal beingradiating by the second device and reflected by the entity. In thisregard, the method 30 can further evaluate a distance between theposition information and one or more position values and determinewhether the distance is less than or equal to a threshold at 39.

In some embodiments, the first device comprises a wirelesscommunications device and/or the second device comprises a wirelesscommunications device and the system that is associated with the firstand/or second devices comprises a wireless communications system.

In further embodiments, the detection comprises: use of positioninformation associated with the first device; use of positioninformation associated with the second device; a detection of a signalthat is being radiated by the first device; a detection of a signal thatis being radiated by the second device; and/or a detection of a signalthat is being radiated by a device that is associated with the entity.In some embodiments, use of position information comprises: anevaluation of a distance between the position information and one ormore position values; and a determination of whether the distance isless than or equal to a threshold. It will be understood, that accordingto some embodiments of the invention, the one or more position valuesmay be predetermined position values.

In yet additional embodiments of the present invention, the first deviceand/or the second device may be configured to perform a functionresponsive to the mode having been enabled by the detector, wherein,according to some embodiments, the function may comprise a financialtransaction, reception of data and/or transmission of data. In someembodiments, reception of data comprises reception of data selectivelyfrom a first unit and transmission of data comprises transmission ofdata selectively to a second unit. In accordance with some embodiments,the first and second units are the same unit and in accordance withother embodiments, the first and second units are different units. Itwill be understood that in some embodiments the first and/or secondunits may be first and second predetermined units.

In yet further embodiments of the invention, the first unit may comprisea wireless communications device and/or the second unit may comprise awireless communications device. According to additional embodiments, thefirst unit is associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) address and/orthe second unit is associated with an IP address.

In some embodiments of the present invention, receiving data comprisesreceiving a position, a request and/or an acknowledgement and whereintransmitting data comprises transmitting a position, an authorizationand/or an acknowledgement. According to other embodiments, the financialtransaction comprises a payment of a toll and/or a payment associatedwith a purchase of one or more items. It will be understood that, insome embodiments, the reception of data comprises reception of data onceor repeatedly and that, according to some embodiments, the transmissionof data comprises transmission of data once or repeatedly. It will alsobe understood that according with any one of the embodiments describedabove (or any combination thereof) the term “entity,” as used thereinmay comprise a person, an animal, a building, a motor vehicle, ashopping cart, a product that is on sale, a check-out counter, ageographic position, a geographic area and/or one or more locations intime and/or space.

In some embodiments according to the present invention, a system maycomprise the detector, the first device, the second device, the entity,the device that is associated with the entity and/or the system that isassociated with the first and/or second devices.

In the specification, there have been disclosed embodiments and,although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic anddescriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The followingclaims are provided to set forth, at least in part, the scope of thepresent invention.

1. A method comprising: detecting by a sensor that an item has beendisplaced in a store; and establishing a communications link with anelectronic device of a customer associated with the item and, inresponse to said detecting, providing for display on said electronicdevice a price associated with the item.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said detecting by a sensor that an item has been displacedcomprises: detecting that the item has been placed in a conveyanceapparatus.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said conveyance apparatuscomprises a shopping cart.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein saiddetecting is performed by the shopping cart.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: charging an account associated with said electronicdevice for the item that has been displaced.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein said charging an account associated with said electronic deviceis enabled when said electronic device is proximate to a specificlocation of said store.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said detectingcomprises using a Radio Frequency tagging technology, a bar-codetechnology and/or an image recognition technology.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said detecting comprises detecting that the item hasbeen displaced from a shelf of said store, and wherein the methodfurther comprises: further detecting by the sensor that the item thathad been displaced has been restored on the shelf of said store andceasing from displaying on said electronic device said price associatedwith the item.
 9. A system that is configured to perform operationscomprising: detecting by a sensor that an item has been displaced from ashelf of a store; and establishing a communications link with anelectronic device of a customer associated with the item and, inresponse to said detecting, providing for display on said electronicdevice a price associated with the item.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein said detecting by a sensor that an item has been displacedcomprises: detecting that the item has been placed in a conveyanceapparatus.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein said operations furthercomprise: charging an account associated with said electronic device forthe item that has been displaced.
 12. The system of claim 11, whereinsaid charging an account associated with said electronic device isenabled when said electronic device is proximate to a specific locationof said store.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein said detectingcomprises using a Radio Frequency tagging technology, a bar-codetechnology and/or an image recognition technology.
 14. The system ofclaim 9, wherein said operations further comprise: further detecting bythe sensor that the item that had been displaced has been restored onthe shelf of said store and ceasing from displaying on said electronicdevice said price associated with the item.
 15. The system of claim 9,wherein said operations further comprise: in response to said detecting,providing for display on said electronic device a manufacturerassociated with the item.